Analyst – Academic – Advisor

Dr. Sajjan M. Gohel received his BA (Hons) in Politics from Queen Mary, University of London. Sajjan has also obtained a Master’s (MSc) in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and a PhD at the LSE’s International History Department entitled, ‘Insurrection of the Ideologues: The Evolution of Egyptian Islamist Radical Ideological Thought from Hasan al-Banna to Ayman al-Zawahiri.’

Sajjan is currently International Security Director for the Asia-Pacific Foundation (APF) which is an independent security and geo-political think-tank based in London. The APF provides analysis on a variety of international security and terrorist related issues and is regularly consulted by various government and military departments and media organisations.

Sajjan is one of the leading authorities in investigating the ideologies, world-views, agendas, and strategies of trans-national terrorist and insurgent groups throughout the world. His primary focus is on the regional and wider situations in South-East Asia, South Asia and Central Asia, the Middle East, Horn of Africa, North Africa and Western Europe.

Sajjan is head of the APF Analysis team that produces reports on terrorist and security related issues throughout the world and has been commissioned to prepare working papers on global security issues by international bodies such as the European Union and the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR).

In addition, Sajjan has written Op-Ed pieces for the national print media as well as serving as a guest commentator for television news networks including the BBC, ITN, Sky News, CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, ABC (Australia), CTV and CBC. Sajjan is also a regular speaker at international conferences on terrorism and security issues. Sajjan is on the editorial review board for the journal ‘Combating Terrorism Exchange’ (CTX) at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, CA, and the journal ‘Security, Terrorism and Society’ at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

Sajjan has been part of the APF team that contributed written testimony and oral evidence for the House of Commons’s Foreign Affairs Committee on topics including ‘Foreign Policy Aspects Of The War Against Terrorism’, ‘Terrorism in South Asia’ and ‘Global Security: Afghanistan’, ‘The UK’s Foreign Policy Towards Afghanistan And Pakistan’ and Extremism and Political Instability in North and West Africa.’

Sajjan also serves as a visiting lecturer and teacher for Masters students in the International History Department at the LSE; the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany; the NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism in Ankara, Turkey and the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

In September 2014, Sajjan was appointed as the Senior Advisor to the Partnership for Peace Consortium’s Combating Terrorism Working Group, (CTWG). The CTWG is collaborative research project investigating current trans-national security threats security and comprises of members from over 30 countries and multilateral organizations such as NATO and the OSCE.